It’s hard to believe, but director Terry Gilliam has been working on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote for almost 20 years. After one setback after another, with bad luck compounding bad luck, it looks as if Gilliam might buck the odds and finally release the film for the world to see. The filmmaker recently revealed that he’s nearly finished cutting the film together. Hell might be about to freeze over, and we may finally be blessed with Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has apparently begun production and now I’m worried that a giant foot will come down from the sky and crush director Terry Gilliam, Monty Python-style. After all, the forces of nature have kept this project on the ropes for nearly two decades. This isn’t even the first time cameras have rolled on the film! There’s still a chance all finished footage could burn up in a fire. There’s still a chance a freak sinkhole could swallow the entire crew. Anything can happen…but it’s about time that the universe cut Gilliam some slack.

Let’s run down everything we know where this famously ill-fated production stands at the moment, including its new leading man.

Taboo marks another collaboration between Steven Knight and actor Tom Hardy. The BBC and FX series follows up their work together on Peaky Blinders season two and Knight’s spellbinding second feature, Locke. The dark and atmospheric trailer for their series made itlook unlike any show coming out. In Knight’s opinion, there hasn’t ever been a show quite like it.

Over twenty years after his death, River Phoenix‘s final film is finally getting a release. Dark Blood, directed by George Sluizer, has just been scooped up by Lionsgate for VOD distribution in the near future.

The thriller follows Boy (Phoenix), who leads an isolated life in the desert. When a vacationing couple (Jonathan Pryce and Judy Davis) come asking for help after their car breaks down near his home, Boy develops an unhealthy relationship with the wife. Watch the Dark Blood trailer after the jump.

Jason Schwartzman‘s latest film will premiere Monday at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and a teaser trailer has been released to celebrate the occasion. The film is called Listen Up, Philip and it’s written and directed by Alex Ross Perry. Schwartzman plays a successful writer fed up with busy city life who goes into seclusion. Elizabeth Moss, Krysten Ritter and Jonathan Pryce are along for the ride. Check out the teaser below. Read More »

This past weekend, Paramount brought footage from the delayed G.I. Joe: Retaliation to Harry Knowles’ annual 24-hour movie marathon in Austin, TX. I wasn’t in attendance, but the consensus on the Joe footage, which featured that mountainside ninja battle, was easy to read: everyone I talked to said the sequence had some of the best post-converted 3D they’d seen. Many films and quite a few clips of upcoming releases were screened at BNAT14, but the Retaliation footage created more positive talk than some other new stuff did. Doesn’t mean the movie is a winner, necessarily, but it sounds like the 3D conversion was a success.

You won’t get to see that 3D online, but this new trailer for the March release does show some new footage. It also includes slightly more of Channing Tatum than any previous trailer for the film has — whether that is due to the reported beefing-up of his role in the movie still isn’t something we know at this point. Check out the trailer below. Read More »

Earlier this week, the first footage from Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master caught the excited attention of the cinephile universe, especially those who’d been eager to see Joaquin Phoenix return to form after his bizarre foray into whatever I’m Still Here was supposed to be. But incredibly, Joaquin may not be the only Phoenix brother slated to make a long-awaited return to the movie theater.

Last fall, director George Sluizer told press he was working on finally finishing and releasingDark Blood, the drama that Joaquin’s older brother River Phoenix was working on when he died of a drug overdose outside Los Angeles’ Viper Room nightclub in 1993. Now, in an effort to raise money for post-production, Sluizer has released a trailer that includes never-before-seen footage of the film, along with a personal explanation of why he finally decided to pick up the project again after all these years. Watch both after the jump.

Tanya Wexler‘s Hysteria boasts the kind of premise that’s bound to make viewers sit up and take note: In Victorian-era England, the handsome young Dr. Mortimer Granville (Hugh Dancy) invents the vibrator to help him treat his “hysterical” female patients by inducing paroxysms. (Or as we call it today, masturbating them to orgasm.) That it’s based on a true story, or a true-ish one anyway, makes it even more intriguing. So it’s a little disappointing that Hysteria is actually much tamer than that description would suggest, but it’s got so much charm I found myself enjoying the hell out of it anyway.

As usual, this summer season looks to be stuffed with massively hyped, massively budgeted blockbusters, from May’s The Avengers to August’s The Expendables 2. Whenever you tire of glossy, expensive explosions in IMAX 3D, however — and at some point you will — there are plenty of other smaller movies on the calendar that could be worth a look.

After the jump, we have trailers for Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy‘s Victorian-era sex comedy (yes, really) Hysteria, Noel Clarke’s sci-fi thriller Storage 24, and the latest installment of Fox’s kid-friendly Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise, Dog Days. Watch after the jump.

The spots we’ve seen so far look great, and now here’s a new international trailer, which adds a few new Cobra-related shots and quick looks at Zartan in disguise and Ray Stevenson as Firefly. For those who’ve wondered just how this sequel will tie into the story of the first movie, this trailer might clear a few things up. (Or at least give some clues.) Check it out below. Read More »